A clean typewriter is a happy typewriter.

Cameron Kopf, are you reading? 

Last week I received from Germany this gorgeous Gossen Tippa (B).

It is a beautiful machine with a very responsive action. However, it had one quite serious flaw. It skipped and skidded about the place like a bar stool seems to under you, after you've sunk a few too many beers - or if you're inclined as I am, red wines or vodkas.

Cameron Kopf's Gossen Tippa B was also suffering from the skiddies as well, so he may be interested to read this.

I was able to type on on the Tippa, but every so often it would just fly off a few spaces. I popped off the base and a bit of a look underneath, but I couldn't seem to really diagnose exactly what the problem was. Despite that, I still tapped out the typecast for my last blog entry quite happily - even with the skipping skidding problem occurring

I figured out the operation of the space bar escapement dog, but I couldn't quite see why it kept happening. A few days later while I was riding to work, a thought occurred to me... This may not actually be a parts failure.

A few people had suggested that they needed to bend back parts with some needle nosed pliers, but all the parts in my escapement looked perfect. Not only that, they had been serviced at some point by someone who had used loctite to hold the tiny nuts in place - which implied it was in the last decade or so.

So.... with a few cotton-buds, I ventured into the inner sanctum of the Tippa; the escapement. 

The space escapement dog is the piece to the right. You can JUST make out the star gear. 

The star gear locks between two escapement parts. One of these is rigidly bolted to the escapement dog, the other part is a moving, spring loaded wedge that catches the star gear and does the bulk of the work. The star was skidding past both of these when the problem was occurring.

The outside, machine seemed incredibly clean - which I think led me to a false sense of security about it's mechanical cleanliness. I learned otherwise when I managed to filthy up 8 tips of the cotton buds just inside the escapement dog  and along the star gear.

 The one on the far left was dipped in de-greaser.

Cleaning the prongs and the dog arms seemed to yield almost instant results. I flipped the machine over and gave it a whirl, and it seemed to have become dramatically more reliable and responsive. 

The lower wedge of the dog that moves needed a little bit of coaxing to hold into place. I jammed an on-hand set of pliers onto it to stop it moving, however the same result could have been achieved with a small screwdriver. 

I sprayed the escapement dog with a little de-greaser, and then wiped it away. I then dipped the cotton bud into a little cup of de-greaser and then proceeded to clean all the parts to make sure I had cleaned everything off. I gave the escapement a bit of a blast of air to try and clear any other muck that was left in place.

I then pushed a brush across the teeth of the escapement rack to move out some muck that I had observed had wedged into place.

After I fastened the bottom of the machine back into lace, I fed some paper in and gave the machine a good run. There was no observed skipping that occurred when I used the space bar,  and you could feel that it was catching with much more certainty.

The thing about machines like these, is that the parts are very small and fine. The escapement sits under the ribbon vibrator, and any particles of dust or ink that wishes to fall down from here during operation of the machine will lodge right into the escapement. And if you oil these parts, you will no doubt have problems too. Essentially the star gear had become so slipper that with the build up on it - it was just forcing itself to skid past the escapement parts. 

So there it is. It seemed incredibly simple - just 'clean' the parts, but really that's all it is. I'm pretty confident that the skidding is sorted. Go me! I've got a couple of other little things to sort out on this Gossen Tippa as yet, but it is shaping up to be a very nice little machine.

Now.... for a little bit more Massive Attack....

Filthy Labs: the PTFE conclusion

Welcome back to Filthy Labs. 

Previously in Filthy Labs, we began to assess the effectiveness of a "Wet" Teflon based lubricant spray on  the functionality of a previously gummed up typewriter. The machine in question was an Adler Gabby 25, which had been filled with a capricious amount of WD40 by its previous owner. The WD40 was cleaned out by an extensive blast of degreaser more recently, but after the machine sat idle for some months it began to jam up again significantly.

Two types of lubricant were applied to parts of this typewriter. The details of which can be found HERE. Both of the lubricants were used on the segment across selected groups of type bars. A control group was established of type bars that were left UN-lubricated.

*Please note. Typewriter manufacturers do not advise the lubrication of the segment.*

The Gabby on cleaning day, 3.5 months ago. 

Hypothesis: 

After an initial 3 months of storage, this typewriter began to return to very stiff operation - despite the WD40 being removed. Lubrication was applied to the machine in controlled areas, ensuring comparison between the control and non control group type-bars. The control group consisted of type bars in the segment that had not been treated.

The Teflon spray should have both cleaned and kept the type-bars lubricated, while the control bars are expected to return to their previously 'sticky' state.

Method:

After basic operation and initial testing, this machine was kept in storage - inactive, for 3 months through the hot summer period. It is then tested with some rigorous typing.

 Observation:

 

Has it really been 3 months since I last wrote on this machine? Damn! How time flies. 

I grabbed the Adler typewriter out of the cupboard, fed some paper into it, and was immediately reminded of how  incredibly smooth the operation of the carriage was. Over time the waxy 'dry' lubricant that I had applied into the tracks and had left the operation feeling very refined. I have observed this in numerous machines that I have applied the 'dry' lubricant into, and I still feel surprised by how dramatic the change is.

I began typing on the machine, and found the treated group keys (PTFE spray) was completely functional and smooth to operate. However, one of the keys on the right hand side of the keyboard still felt slow - and it seemed to stick a little, before settling back into place. It was a key that held a couple of fraction functions, and I checked my previous attempt at using this key, and found I had barely operated it previously. 

the 'Q' key that I had injected the 'dry' lubricant into last time as it was super-stuck, operated flawlessly. 

The control group keys had not simply stuck as they had before. The number keys in the control group showed a significant sticking, but in general letter keys operated back and forth typically.

However, there was a distinct difference between the keys in the control group and the keys in the treated group. The control group keys required a notably heavier touch to type with, and they felt as though they were offering considerably greater resistance during typing than the treated group, and the type slugs sometimes rested slightly away from the type-bar rest.

Conclusion:

The idea of studying this lubricant was to find a spray-on lube that would be more effective to use on a typewriter - particularly a gummed up machine, than the often miss-used WD40. It succeeded in producing improved operation over a machine that had been WD'd and it subsequently cleaned whatever residual muck was gummed in there - out. In operation, the lubricant made a significant improvement to the functioning of an otherwise quite dull machine. However, this may not be the case in a machine that was in excellent condition and hadn't been bastardized by a gummed up compound

The lubricant didn't show any obvious bonding depositing of dry residue over the 3 month period, but it hadn't been exposed to significant amounts of dust to trail if it would bond to dust and hold it. Residual lubricant had been brushed and wiped away, and as such there wasn't a lot of surplus lube to bond with dust anyway.

The TF2 wet spray did the job effectively, as did the focused application of the TF2 dry. The results between them did not seem significantly different, however the dry lubricant has a much lower risk of catching dust.

So.. Is it an improvement over using WD40? 

Well! At this point I would personally suggest it over WD40. Obviously with a jammed typewriter you need to give the machine a decent workout no matter what you do with it. Repeated movement of the type-bars helps loosen them up, and the addition of the TF2 lube in this situation certainly assisted this process. The treated parts of the machine worked brilliantly.

Trouble is, recently I've come across several typewriter repair professionals using WD40 in their repair work. At this point I realized that I had made a crucial error in judgement about WD40. I'd simply assumed that the collective knowledge on its use - which was generally a negative opinion  - was true. However some cursory research has shown me that the communal opinion of WD40 may be less and fact, and something more of a meme or a false truism.

This, in my opinion needs further investigation. I think it is time for the Filthy Labs to have a much closer look at WD40 - and what effects it may have on your typewriter.

The PTFE isn't a magic bullet. But, if you really find yourself needing to get your typewriter working with a lubricant, this stuff produces clean and excellent results.

Polytetrafluoroethlene n' that.

Greetings! And welcome to Filthy Labs.

Polytetrafluoroethlene is a compound that my spell-check seriously dislikes. So let's just abbreviate it to its more common name: Teflon.

You may recall a few weeks ago, I started using a 'dry' Teflon based lubricant on my Oliver 5 machine to see how well it worked. Meanwhile, I had on hand another Teflon based lubricant - a 'wet' lube that was packaged in a spray pack can.

The idea was that the TF2 Spray would be an effective substitute for the god-foresaken WD40 rubbish that some home typewriter renovators use to 'get their machines working again'.

When I say substitute, I mean - a product that potentially can directly replace the WD40 that already has been sprayed onto the typewriter. It also could potentially be a go-to can of product for the people that have may have been thinking about using this spray in the past.

Let me explain: In use, many of the Teflon lubricants - including this one, contain a compound that cleans out existing hardened oils. In testing, often the previous broken down oils and dirt have been seen being pushed out of the lubricated space.

This seems to be fine when talking about door hinges and other simple mechanical components that it has been tested on, but what about finer and tighter tolerance objects? As it stands - Teflon as a lubricant is designed for very tight tolerances. That, and that it is also designed to be used in very high impact areas. Hence its use in aircraft landing gear. Teflon's surface protection capacity and slipperiness, as well as its high resilience has been perfect for such applications.

 

Teflon molecule model. 

Is it good for typewriters? Well.... For the most part typewriters have been happy with most highly viscous oil.  My Oliver 5 seemed to like it, and dirty perished oil was observed being pushed out of all kinds of corners while in use. Another advantage of Teflon that is is lest prone to dust capture. 

But what about as a wet lubricant?

The Candidate: My Adler Gabriele 25

 

When I acquired this machine the then owner demonstrated it to me on a table on her back patio. As she pressed every key, the typebars became jammed into place about a centimeter or so above the rubber pad of the basket. "Oh, I'll just give it another spray of WD40" she said. I Groaned a "Oh, I'll sort that out, it's okay" but she was still pretty determined to grab the can. "NO"! I insisted "No it is okay".

I forked over a little too much money for such a sorry machine, and soon I was on my way.

I used degreaser to try and move the muck out of the segment, and I was about 85% successful. The machine was largely quite usable after that, but I put the machine into storage, and the residual WD40 quickly latched onto the type bars again. 6 months later it was again a slow and sticky machine. Not as bad as it was originally, but still far from ideal.

Hypothesis:
The Teflon lubricant will clear out the existing muck, and subsequently replace it with a much more effective lubricant for tight tolerance mechanical operation. Usability will improve, as will longevity of the machine.

Method. 

Part 1: Spray strategically, operate, observe. Clean surfaces of over spray. Operate and observe. 

Part 2: Store typewriter as typcial post procedure, wait set periods, observe. Operate and observe. 

Potential Variables:

Differing weather conditions could affect the outcomes. Higher humidity in summer, as well as increased heat could potentially cause some level of a false positive. Estimate of potential level of variation is yet to be established. 

Observations:

 

I still didn't simply like the idea of spraying this machine full of lubricant in the same way that I have heard and seen other would-be 'repairers' flood their machines with WD40. Instead I decided to use short, light and quick moving squirts across specific components and stuck locations. 

As this machine was already a victim of 'segment lubrication syndrome', (hereby known as SLS) I wasn't too worried about the normal warnings of 'don't oil the segment', and felt this was an ideal candidate to both test the lubricant, and its muck removal qualities. 

I didn't just spray randomly into the segment however. I only sprayed half of the segment - which left the other half as the control group. 

 TF2+ Dry, and the TF2 spray.

However, the control group contained a particularly sticky key. Q to be exact. And I decided to target the Q key with a tiny drop of the other Teflon lubricant I had been testing, the TF2+ Dry. The drop was administered with the usual syringe that I had been using for the substance. This immediately corrupted the control group,  but I continued with what was left of the control as a point of reference.

The spray was administered through the supplied thin red tube, to ensure that it could be focused closely on a specific area. 

With the typebars now lubricated, I started to manually work every key free from their 'SLS' bonds. I do this by manually grabbing each key, and rapidly shift it to the platen and back repeatedly and as quickly as possible. This method tends to clean out segments that had become jammed with dust or dirt quite effectively, and I was using for the same effect here - to 'push' the debris out of the segment with constant speedy and repeated movement. You can often feel the muck coming out of the segment as you do this. 

Before long the typewriter was up and flying again - in as much as one can say 'flying' with a Gabby.

The control group of the segment took a little work to get lose and moving again, but I managed to get it going. With exception of the Q key, I was able to eventually work all of them lose from their presently lazy operational state. 

The experimental group started to move almost immediately with little or no need to shift the keys around. All keys operated smoothly with individual operation. 

After half an hour of working the keys, both the control and subject groups operated relatively well. I then attempted 'typical' operation - i.e. quickly typing a document, and in typical typing operation both groups worked quickly and mostly smoothly. Some occasional laziness was observed in the control set, but it wasn't consistent and the typewriter was again highly usable. 

The Q key, which had been treated with Teflon dry operated flawlessly. 

Some over spray was wiped from the segment and type-bars, and as soon as I lifted the typewriter - I observed that underneath the machine pools of dirtied oil had formed. 

The smear on the left had formed after I had sat the typewriter back down post spraying along the 'comb' The drizzle of dirty dots to the right formed under the segment - beneath the experimental group. Other drops came from other lubricated locations.

 

 I had lubricated the carriage rails and the bearings with TF2+ Dry while I was servicing the machine. I'll experiment with the spray on the rails on another machine soon. I have a pre-dunk machine in mind I want to try it with.

3 weeks later.

The Gabby 25 was packed back up and stored in a dry, but relatively cool room for about three weeks. It was positioned horizontally (flat, not on its tail). The room was closed off from air conditiong for most of this time, and the room on some occasions reached a temperature in the low thirties (centigrade - around 86 to 95F).

Observations:

The experimental group moved smoothly and immediately upon depression of the keys, while many of the keys in the control group felt as though they were locked down. An lightly audible 'snap' could be heard as the keys freed up, and soon they returned to operation smoothly despite their initial stiff function. During this initial phase, these stiff keys made a noticeably lighter impression on the page.

The Q key observed no locking, and operated perfectly. 

4 of the control group typebars positioned closest to the experimental group moved perfectly without fail. This could potentially indicate over spray, but it could also indicate substance travel - i.e. the lubrication moved along the segment through bearings or across surfaces. 

Keys surrounding the Q key also observed no locking and stiffness. As the Q key was supplied with smaller and more controlled application of lubrication that dried quickly, this suggests substance travel. 

The '9' key was part of the original experimental group. However, it appeared to be lazy during operation. A tiny dab of TF2+ dry was added to the underside of the type bar around where the bearing was located while the type bar was pressed against the platen. When the key was released, the '9' key snapped back to rest, without any laziness observable. 

It is possible that the 9 key hadn't been 'worked in' as much. But there is no observation that supports this - other than its probable lack of inclusion while conducting the 'quick brown fox' test.

The segment did not appear to be wet with oil. 

After a few minutes of typing, the typewriter operated beautifully in most regards. The experimental segment worked near perfectly, with the only flaw being the 9 key.

The TF2+ Dry had done a wonderful job on the rails, and it operated observably smoother and quieter. It had even improved over the initial 'working in' of the lubricant, where the carriage at the time had also showed a marked improvement in operation. The TF2+ dry seems to work better post drying.

The typewriter has now been closed up and returned to storage - pending a 3 month review. Previously the type bars had returned to their locked and stiffened state after a 3 month period of no use. Observations will be made to see if the new lubricant has improved this.

Effective application of TF2 spray and TF2+ Dry lubricants.

Both lubricants need to be applied carefully. This is my advice for applying them:

TF2 spray.
Always use the supplied red tube. Spray pointedly and as lightly as possible, while moving across the surface of where you wish to spray. This lubricant is 'wet', so it potentially will catch dust despite teflon based lubricants being more inclined not to. After spraying operate your typewriter immediately and give it a good workout. Afterwards, wipe over the sprayed areas with a paper towel to collect up the heaviest surface over-spray.

The spray is quite effective as a lubricant, and has shown that it can clean out muck from all kinds of spaces. But don't expect it to get into everything. A spray approach often will allow you to miss areas completely. It's like planting a garden. Just because it is outside, don't always assume your plants are in a good spot to catch the sun.

TF2+ Dry.
Use a syringe and needle for application. Application can also be done with a brush or a toothpick, but these are less controlled. I've been using an 18G drawing up needle, but a finer 19g or 21g sharp needle might be the best way to go if you need a lot of control. In wet form this lubricant moves into gaps and spaces, but don't assume that it will clean out the muck - make sure you clean up most locations properly before trying to use this, otherwise it may not flow to where it is needed.

It dries quite quickly, so give the machinery a bit of an operation to make sure the lubricant travels into spaces effectively. The lubricant properly takes a bit of time to truly dry, so don't be surprised to find operation improves further over time.

As the "Dry" version doesn't stay sticky, it is far less prone to be taken up by dust and form a glue. So this could well be the better substance to use on segments - if you find your segment is not responding well after being more effectively cleaned. Personally, I feel the 'Dry' version is the better substance to use to deal with SLS, but it requires a more pinpoint focus, while the spray seems to be highly effective with less effort.


And yes. That photo up top is me.

Round 1: Scott v's The Royal P

Warning: This blog entry is rated MA - for mature audiences. 
*Occasional coarse language. Which has nominally been bleeped out for you protection.
*Low level violence.
*Frequent bad movie references. 

This war, like all wars, started in a period of relative peace. I like relative peace. It is so peaceful in a relative way that I almost lull myself into a sense of security, before I snap myself out of it - in anticipation of the next major crisis. 

And no, I haven't built a bunker for the impending 2012 disaster and filled it with cans of Spam, beans and Camp Pie. I don't have to... I have still have the one set up for the millennium bug disaster. I rented it out to Harold Camping briefly last year, but he left it in almost perfect condition and I haven't seen him since. 

It was in this relative peacetime that I took a trip down to Canberra. While I was there Robert Messenger gave me two beautiful typewriters. A Bijou 5 and a chromed Royal P. 

 The beautiful Palestinian Bijou. 

The Royal P from hell. 

Both machines are stunningly beautiful. The Royal P in person is one of the most amazingly beautiful machines I have ever seen. With gleaming glass keys along with its chromed body, this machine looks so sharp, I feared touching it for ending up with bloodied fingers

Both machines have their problems. The Bijou's are simple and straight-forward. The Royal however, had a few faults that were likely to need some more serious attention. While Robert and I were talking at his house, he implied that the machine would need a complete teardown and rebuild. I felt this was a touch extreme, but i suspected that thee machine's frame - or at least internals, were somewhat warped.

The shell wasn't lining up with the body and some of the type bars were raised in the segment - but not as a result of being jammed with muck. The reason wasn't immediately obvious.

Also, the carriage wouldn't stay put. When the carriage moved closer to the middle of the unit, it would suddenly take off - before the escapement came back into play a couple of inches later, and the typewriter seemed to start operating again in typical fashion.

Outside of that most of the screws holding the body onto the machine were missing, as were a couple of springs that lock down the ribbon covers. The rubber feet were non-existant. On the plus side the platen appeared to have been re-covered sometime in the last 20 years, and although it showed signs of lots of typing activity it was still very nice and rubbery.

Looking at the machine from the front, I should have known what was going to come next. This machine is trouble - under the stunning supermodel looks was a machine with an attitude of pure ugliness. It was the epitome of the phrase "Beauty is only skin deep".

As I looked at the machine it felt as though the middle type bar was raised that little more than the others intentionally. Surely this machine wasn't giving me 'the finger'? Typewriters don't flip the bird...

But can I tell you folks... The machine damn well was giving me the same big 'f**k you' as I suspect it had given the previous ambitious repairers before me.

The day after I got back from Canberra I extracted the machine from its case. The case had been a huge problem the day before, and had taken Robert roughly quarter of an hour to find a case that would hold the machine. Even then, it refused to be locked into the case properly, and I had stuffed bubble wrap around it to give a level of protection. Unfortunately I had to shift a lot of that bubble wrap at the airport  so that the security team could 'bomb check' it.

It put up a bit of a fight at the airport, and had almost tumbled onto the floor. The same thing happened at home the next day. Eventually I managed to get it out of the case, and I plopped it onto the top of cupboard nearest my desk.

I inspected it for a while and started to take a note of some of the faults. As I did the escapement seemed to loosen up somehow and the machine launched its carriage into my face, almost hitting my eye. Surprised by this, I recoiled away from the machine. The carriage slipped a tiny notch along its escapement by itself before once again engaging and sitting silently.

I felt like Rocky. This was going to be a tough repair, but if I played eye of the tiger often enough and ran up and down the stairs a few times (my tools were in the shed down stairs) eventually this movie would end in my triumph. I'd raise my hands in victory and call out through my numb but joyous face "ADRIAN! ADRIAN!"

I pushed the carriage back to the middle again, and felt the escapement travel with the machine perfectly. I let go of it, and less than a second later the carriage launched itself left again, but only a few stops.

"You little prick" I muttered quietly, before continuing: "So this is how you're going to play, huh"? 

I grabbed the machine and flipped it onto it's tail to inspect the underside of the machine. I couldn't see any misalignment, nor could I find any broken springs, levers or teeth. I rotated the machine back over onto the steel bolts that it is currently using as feet, and scratched my head a little. 

I turned the machine around and looked down the rails from the right hand side (spring loaded part away from my eye) and carefully released the escapement and slid the carriage. Again, I could not observe any major fault, even when I tapped on the space-bar and keys. 

Again I looked at the machine from the front of the keyboard, and started to thank about how I could dismantle it to have a better look. I tapped the space bar and keys roughly and..... 

"CRUNCH". 

The carriage raced across to the left and slammed against the right margin. A small black piece of something shot out the side of the machine and skidded across the surface of the cupboard. 

It was clear what this was. My opponent had now moved beyond the trash talk - the "F**k you" finger raising, and after copping a few whacks - had just spat out a loose tooth at me. It was ready for a fight. 

The sound that it made as the part skipped across the table told me instantly that his wasn't rubber or plastic. It was metal... cold and hard metal. Crucial part kind of metal.

Yes. You know what this is, don't you. I bet you do.

I kept a calm face. I was not going to show any fear to this machine. But on the inside I was saying "F**K F*K F**K F**K F**K F**K F**K F**K F**K F**K F**K F**K F**KETY F**K, YOU F**KING F**K-F**K".

I knew what this piece was. It was a tooth off the escapement wheel which was located deep in the middle of the machine. This part is as difficult to get to, as it is to find a replacement for.

There was a moment of silence between me and the machine. Till I leaned over and spoke quietly to it. 

"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for typewriters like you. If you play good now, that'll be the end of it. I will not dismantle you, I will not transplant you. But if you don't, I will find you, and I will kill you"

I slid the carriage back to the centre, but the escapement almost immediately slipped a little... Just a little... 

And with that  I reached my hands in (with the aid of a screwdriver or two) and tore out the machine's still beating heart - the platen. Screws and knobs lay strewn across my table, and I held the platen in my fist above the typewriter to show it what I had done. It sat there with its mouth wide open - almost in shock.

I grabbed the filthy and cracked platen from another Royal I was working on and drove it into place of the original platen. I screwed it all back together again before looking at the machine and saying with malevolence; "There you are - the ugliness on the outside now reflects the madness that you have on the inside. You shall wear that scar to remind you - every day - that you have crossed the wrong repairer".

And with that, I shoved the chrome Royal back into its case, and locked it into the cupboard. 

I had promised Rob that I would repair this machine. And repair it I shall. But I know the battle has only just begun, and this war of egos will eventually come to a head because this town isn't big enough for the two of us. 

The first battle was a draw, but the war has begun. 

P.S. Has anyone got a trashed Royal portable or some kind? 

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A right royal pain....

Moments after I wrote this, I pushed on a particularly soft piece of metal on the FP, and broke it. DOH!

Another thing to fix now....